26/01: WM: 1 boat (71 people) from Bouyafar rescued to Spain

27.01.2019 / 14:22 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of January 2019
Case name: 2019_01_26-WM369
Situation: WM 1 boat (9 people) from Cap Spartel intercepted by Marine Royale/ 1 boat (71 people) from Bouyafar rescued to Spain/ 1 boat (12 people) from Achakar intercepted by Marine Royale
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On January 26, 2019, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to three boats in distress. Two of these, however, were intercepted by the Moroccan navy before we had time to get further involved. The third boat was rescued by Salvamento Maritimo and brought to Spain.

At 3.28pm CET, the shift team received news of a second boat of 71 people (including 29 women and 12 children) that had left Bouyafar early that morning in a white boat with a 25 horsepower motor. The shift team tried several times to contact the boat with no success; the shift team then contacted Salvamento Maritimo with all available information pertaining to the boat. Meanwhile, the shift team continued to try and contact the boat, but there was no response from the travelers for many hours into the night. They continued to be in touch with Salvamento Maritimo to try and get information on, and push for, rescue efforts. Finally, two days later, the shift team did receive confirmation that the travelers on the boat had been rescued and brought to Spain.

Credibility:

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans